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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/addressofboardofOOwash 



&M A8)8>&S§>® 



OF THE 



BOARD OF MANAGERS 



OF THE 



/ 

WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT 



SOCIETY. 



WITH A STATEMENT OF THE 



RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD. 



7 U£a$)hi0ton : 

PRINTED BY PETER FORCE. 

1838. 



ft** 

v> 3 



niS 



WASHINGTON, Dec'r 15, 1838. 
Sir: 

In compliance with the order of the Board of Managers 
of the Washington National Monument Society, 1 enclose 
you a copy of an Address to the American People, with a 
precise statement of the Receipts and Expenditures of the 
Society, which you are requested to diffuse as widely as may 
he without incurring expense. 

I am, respectfully, 



Treasurer, 



TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 



The Board of Managers of the Washington National 
Monument Society, in laying before you a statement of 
their proceedings, consider it proper to introduce it with a 
few explanatory remarks. 

Washington, our illustrious benefactor, died in the 
year 1799, full of that glory which rendered him " first in 
war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country- 
men." 

Prompted by the feelings of gratitude which warmed 
every heart, a universal desire was manifested to record 
them by some memorial of enduring magnitude and gran- 
deur. Various schemes, to this end, were, consequently, 
from time to time devised, some of which originated in the 
Councils of the Nation, some in those of the States, and 
some in associations of Individuals. All of these, with 
slight exceptions, failed ; not, it was thought, from a decay 






6 

of the feelings which gave them birth, so much as from the 
unsuitableness of the plans themselves, or from the inade- 
quate measures taken for accomplishing them. 

Under these circumstances an association of citizens of 
Washington was formed for this exclusive purpose in the 
year 1835. Its object was to erect a Monument at the 
seat of Government, which should, by its colossal magni- 
tude, great strength, and imposing grandeur, exhibit to the 
remotest ages the gratitude of a nation of freemen to the 
man whose exalted good sense and pure virtues had so pre- 
eminently contributed to their happiness, And that the 
moral foundations of this structure should be broad and 
deep, it was made a fundamental principle that every man, 
woman, or child, should enjoy the privilege of contributing 
one dollar, and no more ; thus placing all in this respect on 
an equal footing. 

To carry this object into effect a Board of Managers, a 
list of whom is annexed, was elected, for whose fidelity 
their names, it is presumed, are a sufficient pledge. 

Measures were forthwith adopted by them with the great- 
est precaution. It was determined to appoint an agent for 
collecting subscriptions in each State and Territory ; and to 
insure, as far as practicable, the services of the best fitted 



persons, applications were publicly invited, and the appoint- 
ments generally made on the attestation of several members 
of the two Houses of Congress of the State in which the 
applicant resided ; and bonds, with sureties, were in all 
cases given for the faithful execution of their trusts, whose 
sufficiency was generally attested in the like manner. Si- 
multaneous instructions were given, requiring the regular 
rendition of accounts at short intervals, and the deposite of 
the moneys collected by them in safe banks to the credit of 
the Treasurer. For these services a commission, in most 
instances of ten per centum, since augmented to fifteen per 
centum, was allowed. Agents were accordingly appointed 
for nearly all the States and Territories, during 1835, and 
the ensuing year. They were strongly recommended as 
men of respectability, and, with few exceptions, have ap- 
proved themselves as such. 

The annexed statement of the sums received and account- 
ed for by them, shews the measure of their success. This, 
though various, has, in no instance, equalled the least san- 
guine expectations. This may be ascribed in some degree 
to the fundamental feature of the plan itself, which, in limit- 
ing the individual subscriptions to one dollar, has been found, 
excepting in towns, to have involved an expense to the 
agent, nearly, if not quite, equal to the amounts collected ; 
while in the larger towns the abortion heretofore of schemes 



for a like purpose has produced a general impression that 
this plan would share the same fate. Other causes, some of 
a temporary, others of a permanent nature, co-operated in 
leading to this result, of which, perhaps, the most powerful 
was the general derangement of the currency, and the real 
or apprehended evils that followed in its train, with the im- 
pression that it was the duty of the General Government, 
out of the vast resources at its command, to effect the 
object. 

In reviewing the course of measures pursued, the Board 
of Managers have satisfaction in perceiving no neglect or 
omission on their part in discharging the duties assigned 
them. If an assiduity proportioned to the dignity of the 
object, a devotion seeking no reward but in the gratification 
of honest feelings, and an economy attested by the small 
expenditures for contingent purposes, are the truest eviden- 
ces of fidelity, they trust that they may, without unworthy 
imputations, lay claim to this humble virtue. 

It may be usefully added, that the entire amount collect- 
ed, with the exception of the small balance recently receiv- 
ed, has been invested in the safest stocks in the country, and 
placed in trust, in the names of Samuel H. Smith, Nathan 
Towson, and Thomas Munroe, or the survivors, or survi- 
vor, so as to be free from risk, and subject, with the ac- 



cruing interest, at any moment, to the accomplishment of 
the contemplated object. 

Upon the whole, however great the disappointment of 
the Board of Managers, they have not abandoned the hope 
that a plan, which, at its inception, was hailed with univer- 
sal approbation, may yet, with proper modifications, be 

effected. 

By order of the Board, 

December 10,1838. 

W. CRANCH, 15/ V, P. 

GEO. WATTERSTON, Sec'y. 



10 



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12 

The entire receipts and expenditures by the Treasurer, to the 10th 
December, 1838, are as follows : — 

Receipts. 

From the Collectors, on account of subscriptions, . $27,917 29 
Interest on Stocks, 2,862 55 



Expenditures. 



For $20,000 00 Five per cents of 




Pennsylvania, 


$20,413 91 


8,900 00 Six per cents W. 




City Corpo'n, 


8,545 00 


672 95 Five do. do. } 




with $89 37 ac- V 




crued interest, ) 


627 73 


$29,572 95 


$29,586 64 


Exchange on uncurrent bank notes, 




and deposites in remote banks, . 


173 12 


Contingent expenses, including pos- 




tage, stationery, &c: incurred by 






30 95 




238 02 


Sundry other contingent expenses, 




for printing, adv'ts, fuel, &c. 


76 33 



,779 84 



30,105 06 

Balance remaining unexpended, .... $ 674 78 

Of which there is deposited in the 

Bank of Washington, in the name 

of the Society, . • . . . 587 86 

Uncurrent and counterfeit notes, Sic. 

in the hands of the Treasurer, 86 92 



674 78 



SAMUEL H. SMITH, Treasurer. 
December 10, 1838. 



13 



LIST OF 

OF THE 

WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT SOCIETY, 

AS APPOINTED AT THE LAST ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 



JAMES MADISON, President. 
WILLIAM CRANCH, Is* Vice-President. 
MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, 2d Vice-President 
WILLIAM W. SEATON, 3d Vice-President. 
SAMUEL H. SMITH, Treasurer. 
GEORGE WATTERTSON, Secretary. 

MANAGERS. 

Maj. Gen. MACOMB, THOS. MUNROE. Esq. 

Gen. N. TOWSON, THOS. CARBERY, Esq, 

Col. GEO. BOMFORD, J. P. VAN NESS, Esq. 

Col. A. HENDERSON, M. ST. C. CLARKE, Esq. 

Col. JAS. KEARNEY, PETER FORCE, Esq. 

WILLIAM BRENT, Esq. JOHN McCLELLAND, Esq, 
















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